Your home is where you live and make memories as a family, but it also has another very important function: it is part of your estate. The “estate” is a legal and financial term for a person’s belongings of value that are used to settle debts and are passed down to beneficiaries following the estate owner’s death. Your home is a large part of your financial portfolio, so it makes sense to retain and increase the value of this asset as much as possible.
Increasing your home’s value has the dual benefit of creating a more comfortable and beautiful space to live, but also raising the overall value of your estate and asset mix. Here are five simple ways to ensure your home’s value remains high.
Do Your Routine Maintenance
It’s easy to forget about changing the furnace filter, or scheduling time to replace those worn out shingles, but when you neglect your home’s maintenance, you affect its value. Create a simple system, be it notifications on your smartphone, a marked up calendar in the home office, etc., whereby you are reminded about the times for filter changes, shingle replacements, hardwood refinishing, carpet cleaning, drapery dry cleaning, exterior pressure washing, deck resurfacing and more. Pay attention to the manufactures’ recommended maintenance schedules for your furnace, hot water tank and appliances. Keeping up with the maintenance means avoiding expensive issues later on.
Renovate the Bathrooms
An organized, efficient and tidy bathroom is a huge selling feature for any home, and when you upgrade to a spa-like bathroom with in-floor heating, and a tiled shower and modern raised sink, your home’s value goes up. You get to enjoy your personal spa, and the extra money it brings in when it’s time to sell.
Renovate the Kitchen
Few renovation projects bring more dollar-for-dollar value to the home than a renovated kitchen. No buyer wants to be faced with a kitchen remodel. An outdated, inefficient kitchen with energy burning appliances and a lack of storage space will have buyers asking for a price reduction so they can afford to gut it. If you don’t like your kitchen, neither will your buyers – and more importantly – neither will the home appraiser.
Make Use of Unused Space
Many people want a little extra space, be it an empty closet, an entertainment room, or a more functional foyer. What they don’t realize is how easily a contractor can make that happen. Unfinished basements are goldmines of unused space. Spare bedrooms can be converted into the ultimate personalized dressing room, and if you have space for a small addition or the ability to enclose part of a wraparound deck, you could have the mud room of your dreams. The more functional space you have in your home, the higher the value.
Work with a Qualified Contractor
Anyone can go on Kiiji and offer their services as a contractor, but don’t be fooled. That low price can mean huge expenses if an unskilled, unqualified contractor damages your home. There is a very good reason why qualified contractors charge the prices they do – they know about permits, load bearing walls, not cutting into electrical or through vital plumbing, and they also know where to get the highest quality materials and most skilled labour. You save nothing by having your home so damaged that you need another contractor to fix it. How can you recoup that financial loss? One of the best ways to increase your home’s value is to rely on a contractor with the experience and expertise to do the job right.
